Afterlife Page 7

  I leapt off the ladder before hitting the ground, rolled over my shoulder to keep from losing my momentum, and hurtled forward on my feet at a dead sprint. “Stay here!” I shouted to them as I raced past.

  I couldn’t see much through the mist. Shadows of the Beast’s tentacles weaved about, but I brushed past them, running all out toward the place where I’d last spotted Susie from high above. I’d been unable to protect her in the physical realm, but I refused to fail her here, too.

  Finally, I caught sight of her outline through the mist. “Susie!” I called ahead, slowing to a jog. “Are you okay?”

  As she grew more distinct, I realized she wasn’t alone. Susie’s arms were wrapped around another woman, and she hugged her desperately, her heart-wrenching sobs echoing all around us. I couldn’t see the other woman’s face at first, but then she raised her head, and my heart sank.

  It was Lex.

  Seeing my half-sister was a punch to the gut, and I stumbled to a walk. If she was here, that meant she’d been killed. That meant the Netjers had found the Oasis. That meant time had run out. My thoughts spiraled out of control.

  Was Nik dead too? And Heru and Aset and Neffe?

  What about my body?

  Was it really game over?

  The embracing mother and daughter grew clearer with each step, and my eye was drawn down to Lex’s feet. She didn’t have any at all. Rather, where her feet should have been, her legs gave way to a thick tangle of silvery vines that disappeared into the mist behind her.

  I blinked, my entire, distraught frame of mind shifting. This wasn’t Lex. This was an illusion, like my own mother had been back in the woods around Dom’s cottage. This was the Beast messing with Susie’s head.

  “Let her go!” I shouted as I lunged forward.

  I grabbed Susie’s arm even as I reached over my shoulder with my right hand and drew my sword. I tore Susie out of not-her-mother’s grasp, yanking her behind me and brandishing Mercy at the cruel illusion.

  “You can’t have her,” I said sharply, taking a backward step and pushing Susie back with me. “Do you hear me?” I shouted, lashing out with my sword. “You can’t have her!”

  Not-Lex held up her hands, her carmine eyes locking with mine, almost like she—it—was surrendering. A small, closemouthed smile curved her lips, and she bowed her head. A moment later, she melted into a mass of writhing, silvery tentacles and retreated deeper into the mist.

  “What—” Susie’s voice was hoarse. “What just happened?” She shook her head, eyes rounded in horror. “My mom—”

  “That wasn’t Lex,” I said, eyes searching the mist. “It was the Beast.”

  No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t see any sign of the Beast in the shimmering mist, and my gut told me we’d somehow reached a truce, the Beast and I. My gut also told me to get the hell out of there—fast.

  “Let’s go,” I said, turning and running back the way I’d come, dragging Susie right along with me.

  It didn’t take us long to reach the ladder. Dom and Syris still stood at the base, arguing about whether or not to chase after me, just as they’d been arguing about whether or not to search for Susie.

  Susie wriggled out of my grasp and stumbled toward her brother, practically falling into his arms.

  Dom simply stared at me, dark eyes filled with questions.

  “I don’t know,” I said preemptively, slowing to a walk before stopping to stand before him. “We can talk about it later.” I made a shooing motion toward the ladder. “You three go up. I’ll come last.” I glanced around at the dense mist surrounding us. There was still no sign of the Beast. “I don’t think it wants to hurt me. At least, not right now.”

  “Susie,” Dom said, reaching for the young woman but still staring at me. “Your turn.”

  Susie released her brother and woodenly started to climb the ladder. Syris followed right behind her, and both vanished through the mist.

  Dom stared at me for a moment longer, then turned and started up the ladder after them.

  I waited until he was out of sight before turning my back to the ladder to scan the mist. “Why are you following us?” I asked, voice barely above a whisper. I licked my lips and raised my voice, eyes still searching the mist. “What do you want?”

  I waited for several heartbeats. Then waited several more.

  But there was no response from the Beast, and eventually I gave up and, turning to the ladder, started to climb.

  13

  Once I’d climbed over the top of the wall and was standing on the battlement with everyone else, we all exchanged a combo of anxious smiles and laughs, nods, thumbs-ups, and high-fives. There’s nothing like surviving an oh-shit moment to raise the collective spirits of a group.

  “Um . . . I hate to be a buzzkill,” Mari said, “but . . .” She pulled back from peering over the edge of the wall and looked first at Dom, then at me, her gaze full of concern. “The mist is rising.”

  “Shit,” I breathed. The Beast was climbing the wall, which meant our break was over.

  “Alright,” Dom said. “Let’s keep moving.” He turned away from the group and hurried toward the nearest tower, the rest of my companions following in a tight cluster.

  I hung back, leaning over the crenel to get another look at the mist. I couldn’t see the Beast, but I had no doubt that it was in there. Shivering, I pushed away from the edge of the wall and hurried after the others.

  The tower extended a story or two higher than the main part of the wall, but there was an opening giving us access. The tower’s interior was square and maybe ten feet across, with two heavy wooden doors with iron hinges set opposite one another. We huddled in the enclosed space, soaked through with rain now more than sweat, the stone walls giving us welcome shelter from the storm. But the walls wouldn’t do much to protect us from the Beast. We needed to get inside the fortress.

  Dom opened one of the two doors, then shut it again. I caught the barest glimpse of upward-climbing stairs before the door closed. After striding across the tower to the opposite door, Dom eased it open and turned to the rest of us, one finger held up to his lips telling us to keep quiet, then snuck into the fortress.

  We fell into a tight, single-file line and followed him inside. I was right behind Dom. Anapa, bringing up the rear, shut the door once we were all inside, and we silently made our way down the uneven steps of a winding stone stairway.

  “What was that?” a male voice said, floating up from lower down in the tower. “Did you hear it?”

  Dom stopped his descent and held up a hand, signaling for the rest of us to hold tight.

  “It’s just the wind rattling the door,” another voice said.

  “But what if it’s not?” the first guy said. “What if it got inside?”

  “Then you can run to your room and hide under your bed,” his companion said, tone turning snide. “Pussy . . .”

  There was the sound of a quick scuffle punctuated by a few grunts.

  I rolled my eyes. Boys . . .

  After thirty seconds or so, the sounds of horseplay from below quieted. “But really, man, I think we should check,” the first guy said. “Just in case . . .”

  “Fine,” his buddy said. “You check. I’ll stay here.”

  “Oh,” the first guy said, “now who’s being a pussy?”

  At that point, their debate devolved into a lengthier scuffle.

  Once again, Dom turned to us and held a finger up to his lips. “Wait here,” he mouthed, making eye contact with each of us before turning away and continuing down the stairs.

  But the cowardly guards’ conversation had given me an idea, and I grabbed Dom’s arm, stopping him before he could move out of reach. He turned around partway, and I tapped my temple. “I’ve got an idea,” I whispered as quietly as possible.

  Dom narrowed his eyes. Like Mari, he was far better than me at planning ahead—something about patience and all that—but I was the expert at on-the-spot strategy. He knew that
about me, and after a moment of considering our options, he nodded.

  I flashed him a quick smile and a nod, then closed my eyes and pictured the mist. The guards were afraid of it. Hell, we were afraid of it. If anything could clear our path and keep us concealed, a faux-mist was the ticket. I imagined what it would look like creeping down this stairway. How it would slowly spill into a room through a doorway. How it would shimmer subtly, even as haunting shadows lurked in its depths.

  Behind me, I heard a faint gasp.

  I opened my eyes, and the sight of the mist seeping up through the seams between the stone stairs farther down made my heart stumble a few beats.

  My companions behind me were slowly backing away.

  I held up my hands, signaling for them to stay put. Once I had their attention, I tapped my chest with my fingertips. “It’s not real,” I mouthed. “I made it.”

  Their eyes widened, but their retreat stopped.

  I raised my eyebrows and waved them back down. “Come on!” I whispered.

  With the mist cloaking us, making it to the dungeon would be a breeze. We would be in the First’s cave in no time. Then all we would have to worry about would be waking him up. And convincing him to help us. Totally no big deal, right?

  I turned back to Dom and nodded to him.

  He continued down the stairs, partially concealed by the rising mist, and I slunk after him.

  By the time we reached the landing where the guards we’d overhead must have been, we were entirely concealed. And as far as I could tell by the sound—or lack thereof—they had fled, scared off by the mist. By my mist.

  We paused on the landing, waiting for everyone to catch up, and I touched Dom’s shoulder. “Do you know where to go?” I whispered.

  He bobbed his head from side to side. “Sort of,” he whispered. “From what I’ve seen, the layout of the interior seems to be based on a castle I once infiltrated in Nantes, but there’s no saying what he changed. We may have to do some backtracking along the way.”

  I gave his shoulder a squeeze. “No problem. Just get us down there. You got this.”

  Dom nodded once, then turned away and led us deeper into the fortress.

  The place was a veritable maze, with endless crisscrossing hallways and dead ends. We finally made our way down to the main floor, sticking close to one another so we wouldn’t lose track of each other in the mist. It was harder than it sounded; I hadn’t really thought that part through when I’d created the faux-mist.

  As we passed a tall, imposing set of double doors, voices floated through the crack. One voice stood out. A voice that belonged to someone I’d once known well—or thought I’d known—once, a very long time ago. A voice that I only ever heard in my nightmares these days. A murderer’s voice. My mother’s murderer’s voice.

  My heart lurched, and my blood boiled, a jolt of adrenaline making me shake all over. I fell behind, drawn by Carson’s voice, and tiptoed closer to the doors.

  One door was cracked open an inch or two. I snuck as close as I could get and crouched to peek through the opening. I couldn’t quite see anyone in the cavernous room beyond, but their voices were much clearer now. Oh yeah, it was him—and not just the Beast’s sock-puppet version of him. This was the real thing.

  “I don’t care what you have to do,” Carson shouted. “Get it out of here!” There was more than a hint of fear in his voice.

  My lip curled into a sneer. The mist was scaring him. My mist. Good.

  Someone touched my shoulder, and I jumped, right hand instinctively reaching over my shoulder for Mercy’s handle.

  Mari held up a hand to calm me. It seemed funny that she was trying to calm me down, considering how wide and wild her eyes looked. “Is that—”

  I nodded. “Carson,” I said. “Yeah, it’s him.”

  14

  “Hey,” Mari said, tugging on my arm. She nodded back toward the faux-mist filling the hall behind us.

  There was just a shadow of Anapa visible farther down the hallway.

  “Let’s go before we lose them,” Mari whispered, eyes filled with a thousand pleas. It was painfully obvious that the last thing she wanted to do was confront Carson, a guy who’d screwed up her life almost as much as he’d screwed up mine.

  I wanted to listen to her. I wanted to be the bigger person and turn the other cheek. I wanted to be the kind of hero everyone deserved—the kind who didn’t put personal vendettas before the fate of the universe. But I couldn’t move. I couldn’t walk away knowing Carson was right there, on the other side of the door.

  The moment he pulled the trigger and blasted a hole through my mom’s skull replayed in my mind, over and over, peeling away my self-control until I was little more than a beast, starved for the vengeance that had been torn from my grasp all those years ago. In my mind’s eye, I could see the moment my revenge had been stolen as clear as if it were happening right now.

  Heru grasps either side of Carson’s head and jerks it to one side.

  The handgun that killed my mom slips from Carson’s grasp, hitting the floor with a clank.

  Heru tosses Carson’s body aside like a discarded doll. He’s limp, like my mom, his arms floppy. He’s dead, and all I can think about is how badly I want to kill him again . . . a thousand times. I want to spend all of eternity making him pay for what he did. For the life he stole.

  I could do that, here, in Aaru. I could kill him over and over, and he would keep coming back. Injuries were only temporary here—even “death” would fade in time—but the pain was real enough.

  “Kat, please,” Mari said, pulling harder on my arm. I was too lost to memory to fight her, and she managed to drag me back a few steps.

  I’m suddenly alone with my mom’s body and the remains of her killer. I can’t stand the sight of Carson’s body.

  Gritting my teeth, I push up off the floor, storm over to Carson’s body, and kick him as hard as I can. “I hate you,” I scream, my toes striking his side again. “I hate you!”

  I kick his body toward the front door until he’s lodged half in and half out of the house. I drop to my knees and start to shove his body, needing him to be gone—out of the house and away from my mom.

  “I hate you!” I shriek with each push. I repeat the words over and over as I shove and shove and shove, and though Carson’s body gives a few inches, I can’t seem to get him all the way through the doorway.

  “Kat,” Nik says. He’s behind me, watching my breakdown, but I don’t care. Nothing matters as much as what I’m doing right now. I have to get him away from her.

  I give an extra-hard shove, and with a sickening snap, something in Carson’s leg gives, and I push him out of the house.

  “Kat!” Nik hauls me backward. “That’s enough!”

  I struggle, a wild thing trying to break free. It will never be enough.

  I could feel myself returning to that place, becoming that wild creature again, hell-bent on destroying Carson. Nothing mattered more. And this time, Nik wasn’t here to stop me.

  A berserker rage took hold of me, and I yanked my arm free from Mari’s grasp. I lunged at the huge door, shoving it open, and barged into a cavernous throne room.

  Carson stood among a cluster of armored guardsmen wearing leather armor, a longsword on his hip and an iron circlet on his head, his whole outfit looking like it had been plucked off of some warrior prince from the Middle Ages. He’d ditched the glasses he’d always worn before—back when he was alive—and his jaw was covered in a short, stubbly beard. He’d always been smooth-cheeked when I’d known him, and the beard looked wrong on him, almost fake, like it was glued on.

  Carson’s eyes locked on me, bulging out as he staggered back a step. “Kat?” His stare shifted past me. “Mari? How—” He shook his head, his brow furrowing. “What are you—”

  I reached over my shoulder and drew my sword. Mercy’s At blade rang out, and I held the sword lazily at my side, lip curling in a snarl. A quick glance over my shoulder told me Ma
ri had shoved past her reservations and was backing me up, two glimmering anti-At daggers gripped in her hands. They weren’t really made of anti-At—the only genuine At and anti-At in all of Aaru was laced throughout my ba—but that didn’t make the onyx blades in Mari’s hands any less intimidating.

  “You killed my mom,” I said, voice cool despite the rage burning through me. “I will murder you a thousand times in a thousand different ways,” I vowed, my bootfalls echoing off the tall stone walls as I slowly stalked across the vast space toward him. “I will tear you apart, over and over, until all you can do is cower in a corner for the rest of eternity. I will destroy your soul, Carson, and I will do it with a smile on my face and a song in my heart.”

  “Jesus, Kat,” Carson said as he backed his way up the steps leading to the throne’s dais. He edged around the throne, a huge, iron monstrosity, gripping the top with one hand as he partially hid behind it. “What happened to you?”

  “You happened,” I snarled.

  And then I leapt forward, shoving one of his guards into three of the others and slashing another’s armpit open through the break in his chainmail with the tip of my sword. I would go through them all, if I had to. I would get my hands on Carson, and I would make him pay for what he’d done.

  “Stop them!” Carson shouted just a moment before he disappeared behind the throne. I heard the crunch of stone on stone and realized too late that he’d retreated into a secret passageway, leaving me and Mari to fend off several dozen armed and armored men.

  The guards were converging on us.

  I shouldered one out of the way, intending to slip past them and follow Carson. But a broadsword sliced through the air in front of me, and I was forced to dodge backward. I blocked the guardsman’s next strike with Mercy’s blade, giving just enough that he moved closer, then rammed my knee into his groin. He doubled over, and I smacked his temple with the butt of my sword hilt, knocking him out cold. He dropped like a sack of stones.